Even Celebrities Have Overcome Some Major Obstacles in Life

The new television series Finding Carter follows a young girl who thinks she has the perfect life with her single mom until she finds out that she was abducted as a child by the woman who raised her.

Carter (played by Kathryn Prescott) returns to her biological family and must overcome many hurdles while trying to fit into her new life.

Not every celebrity has always been living a grand life of fame and fortune and many stars have had to overcome some major obstacles to get to where they are today as well.

Whether they had childhoods they had to escape, a disability they had to overcome, or an addiction they had to battle, these celebrities worked through their obstacles and have become some of the most successful stars of our time.

Click inside to learn about some celebrities that have overcome obstacles in life…

Oprah Winfrey

Before Oprah Winfrey became the talk show queen of the world, she lived a hard life in Mississippi to two teenage parents and grew up mostly with her grandmother on a farm. Her parents split when she was young and she ended up moving to Wisconsin with her mother, where she was molested by relatives and ended up giving birth to a premature baby when she was 14. The baby died shortly after birth and Oprah moved to live with her father in Nashville, where she got her start with a local TV station as a reporter. And the rest is history…

Jim Carrey

When most people think of Jim Carrey, they usually will recall his hilarious performances in a bunch of funny films. What most don’t know about him is that his life hasn’t always been joyful. Before reaching fame and fortune, Jim was homeless as a child and had to work to help support his family. While they were still living in a van, Jim started performing at comedy clubs and worked his way up in the scene before moving to Los Angeles and getting discovered by Keenan Ivory Wayans. He was then cast on In Living Color, which launched his career.

Bethany Hamilton

Bethany Hamilton is one of the best examples of someone who has overcome an obstacle in life to achieve some major success! When she was just 13, Bethany was attacked by a shark while surfing and her arm was severed just below the shoulder. Despite the incident, she returned to surfing less than a month after the attack with a custom-made board and entered a major competition just two months after the attack. Her story was adapted into the hit film Soul Surfer starring AnnaSophia Robb and she recently got married. In addition, she is set to compete on this fall’s season of The Amazing Race with her husband Adam Dirks!

Robert Downey, Jr.

Robert Downey, Jr. had a great career going in the late 1980s through the mid 1990s until he started getting arrested numerous times on drug-related charges. He went through several drug treatment programs unsuccessfully and blamed his relapses on getting addicted to drugs at the age of eight when his father would give them to him. His arrests in 2001 cost him his roles on the hit series Ally McBeal and the movie America’s Sweethearts. After finally working on his recovery, Robert made one of the most inspiring comebacks in the business and this past year was crowned the most powerful actor in the world by Forbes!

Alexis Denisof

Even cast members of the show Finding Carter have overcome some major obstacles in life! Alexis Denisof, who plays the father of the title character, was stricken with Bell’s palsy back in 2003 just weeks before he was set to begin work on the fifth season of Angel. The left side of his face was paralyzed and scenes had to be restructured so that the effects of the illness would not be shown. Alexis thankfully was able to recover. He has been married to former co-star Alyson Hannigan for the past ten years and they have two daughters!

This post was created in collaboration with our partner MTV. Be sure to tune-in to the series premiere of Finding Carter on Tuesday, July 8 at 10pm EST!